From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scottish Borders
Scottish Borders
Scottish Borders north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian
The Mairches to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of
Na Crìochan Northumberland and Cumbria in England to the south
and east. The administrative centre of the area is New-
Location town St. Boswells.
Historically, the name Scottish Borders designated
the entire border region of southern Scotland and, to-
gether with neighbouring areas of England, was part of
the historical Borders region.
Geography
The Scottish Borders are located in the Eastern part of
the Southern Uplands.[2]
The region is hilly and largely rural, with the River
Tweed flowing west to east through the region. In the
east of the region the area that borders the River Tweed
is flat and is known as ’The Merse’. The Tweed and its
tributaries drain the entire region with the river flowing
into the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed, and forming
Geography
the border with England for the last twenty miles or so of
Area Ranked 6th its length.
The term Central Borders refers to the area in which
- Total 4,732 km2 (1,827 sq mi)
the majority of the main towns of Galashiels, Selkirk,
Admin HQ Newtown St Boswells Hawick, Jedburgh, Earlston, Kelso, St Boswells, Peebles,
ISO 3166-2 GB-SCB Melrose and Tweedbank are located.
ONS code 00QE
History
Demographics
Historically, the term Borders has a wider meaning, re-
Population Ranked 17th ferring to all of the burghs adjoining the English border,
- Total 112,900 also including Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire —
(2005) as well as Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmor-
land in England.
- Density 24 / km²
Roxburghshire and Berwickshire historically bore the
Politics brunt of the conflicts with England, both during declared
Scottish Borders Council
wars such as the Wars of Scottish Independence, and
http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/ armed raids which took place in the times of the Border
Reivers. Thus, across the region are to be seen the ruins
Control Conservative/Independent/Liberal
of many castles, abbeys and even towns.
Democrat)
The area was created in 1975, by merging the former
MPs • Michael Moore counties of Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire
• David Mundell and Selkirkshire and part of Midlothian, as a two-tier re-
MSPs • John Lamont gion with the districts of Berwickshire, Ettrick and Laud-
• Christine Grahame erdale, Roxburgh, and Tweeddale within it. In 1996 the
region became a unitary authority area and the districts
The Scottish Borders (Scots: the Mairches; Scottish Gaelic: were wound up. The region was created with the name
Na Crìochan) is one of 32 local government council areas Borders. Following the election of a shadow area council
of Scotland.[1] It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in 1995 the name was changed to Scottish Borders with ef-
in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the fect from 1996.[3]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scottish Borders
Political Party Seats
• Scottish Conservative Party 11
• Scottish Liberal Democrats 10
Scottish National Party 6
• Independent 5
Borders Party 2
Although there is evidence of some Scottish Gaelic in Carstairs and Lockerbie on the West Coast Main Line are
the origins of place names such as Innerleithen ("conflu- the nearest.
ence of the Leithen"), Kilbucho which contain identifi- The area is served by buses which connect the main
ably Goidelic rather than Brythonic Celtic elements, the population centres. Express bus services link the main
language has tended to be weak to non-existent in most towns with rail stations at Edinburgh and Carlisle.
parts of the region. Since the 5th century, there has been The region also has no commercial airports; the near-
evidence of two main languages in the area: Brythonic (in est are Edinburgh and Newcastle, both of which are in-
the west) and Old English (in the east), the latter of which ternational airports.
developed into its modern forms of English and Scots. The main roads to and from the region are:
• The A1, which runs along the east coast from London
Politics to Edinburgh; passing near Eyemouth.
• The A7 which runs north to south from Edinburgh to
There are two British Parliamentary constituencies in Carlisle and the M6; passing through Galashiels,
the Borders. Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk covers Selkirk and Hawick.
most of the region and is represented by Liberal Demo- • The A68 running from Darlington to Edinburgh;
crat Michael Moore. The western Tweeddale area is in- passing through Jedburgh, Newtown St. Boswells,
cluded in the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Earlston and Lauder.
constituency and is represented by Conservative David • The A72, which runs east to west from Galashiels to
Mundell. Hamilton; passing through Innerleithen and Peebles
At Scottish Parliament level, there are also two seats.
The eastern constituency is Roxburgh & Berwickshire,
which is currently represented by Conservative John La-
Towns and villages
mont. The western constituency is Tweeddale, Ettrick
& Lauderdale and is represented by SNP Christine Gra-
hame.
Control of the local council rests in the hands of a
Conservative/Liberal Democrat/Independent coalition.
The Conservatives are the biggest party on the council
with 11 seats, the Liberal Democrats have 10. The SNP
have six seats and the Independents have five. Two coun-
cillors form the Borders Party.
Transport
The region has no working railway stations. Although
the area was well connected to the Victorian railway sys-
tem, the branch lines that supplied it were closed in the Part of the Scottish Borders Council offices at Newtown St.
decades following the Second World War. A bill has been Boswells
passed by the Scottish Parliament to extend the Waver-
ley Line, which would be a commuter service from Ed- • Abbey St. Bathans, Allanton, Ancrum, Ashkirk
inburgh to Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank. Today, the • Broughton, Burnmouth
East Coast Main Line is the only railway which runs • Cardrona, Chirnside, Clovenfords, Cockburnspath,
through the region, with Edinburgh Waverley, Dunbar Coldingham, Coldstream
and Berwick being the nearest stations on that line, all • Denholm, Dryburgh, Duns
of which are outwith the Borders. To the west, Carlisle, • Earlston, Edrom, Eddleston, Ettrick, Ettrickbridge,
Eyemouth
• Foulden
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scottish Borders
• Galashiels, Grantshouse, Greenlaw • Nisbet, Roxburghshire
• Hawick, Heriot, Hutton • Paxton House
• Innerleithen • Pennine Way - National Trails
• Jedburgh • Priorwood Garden - National Trust for Scotland
• Kelso, Kirk Yetholm • Robert Smail’s Printing Works - National Trust for
• Lauder, Lilliesleaf, Longformacus Scotland
• Melrose • Scots’ dike
• Newcastleton, Newstead, Newtown St. Boswells • Smailholm Tower - Historic Scotland
• Peebles, Preston • Southern Upland Way - National Trails
• Roxburgh • St. Abbs Head
• Selkirk, St. Abbs, St. Boswells, Stow, Stichill • St. Mary’s Loch
• Teviothead, Town Yetholm, Traquair, Tweedbank, • St. Ronans Wells
Tweedsmuir • Teviotdale
• Walkerburn, West Linton, Whitsome • Thirlestane Castle
• Yair • Traquair House
• Trimontium
Places of interest •
•
Waterloo Monument
Wedderburn Castle
• Abbotsford House
• Bowhill House
• Cheviot Hills
Notes and references
• Cessford Burn [1] Local councils of Scotland, Directgov website
• Coldingham Bay [2] Visit Southern Scotland
• Dawyck Botanic Garden [3] Notice of change of name of local authority area,
• Dryburgh Abbey - Historic Scotland Edinburgh Gazette, 26 May 1995
• Duns Castle
•
•
Edin’s Hall Broch
Ettrick Forest
See also
• Eyemouth • Scottish Marches
• Floors Castle • Anglo-Scottish border
• Glentress Forest - Forest Enterprise • Debatable lands
• Greenknowe Tower • List of places in the Scottish Borders
• Harmony Garden - National Trust for Scotland • Scottish Lowlands
• Hawkshaw - ancestral home of the Porteous family • Alexander_Jeffrey, historian of Scottish Borders
• Hermitage Castle - Historic Scotland
•
•
Jedburgh Abbey - Historic Scotland
Kailzie Gardens
External links
• Kelso Abbey • Scottish Borders at the Open Directory Project
• Lammermuir Hills • Borders’ Dialect
• Lauderdale • Scots Language Centre page on Borders’ Dialect
• Manderston • Scottish Borders Council
• Megget Reservoir
• Mellerstain House
• Melrose Abbey - Historic Scotland
• Mire Loch
• Monteviot
• Neidpath Castle
• Nisbet, Berwickshire
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scottish_Borders&oldid=459268742"
Categories:
• Scottish Borders
• Council areas of Scotland
• Regions of Scotland
• Northumbria
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scottish Borders
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